Michelle Walters' Memorial Fund

Scott Janicola is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Carolyn Walters.

Donation protected

I've never done anything like GoFundMe before. I've contributed to many fundraisers, but never did one myself. So, why now?

When I started doing triathlons, I had no clue that people died during the competition.
Chew on this:
* There are 15 deaths/1,000,000 participants.
* Studies suggest 72% of deaths occur during the swim, 15% bike, 8% run, and 5% shortly after the event.
* This sucks.

This reality hit me hard during Ironman Boulder last August. I was on my bike when I saw an ambulance and numerous police vehicles on the road. I slowed, but couldn't decifer what happened. Midway through the marathon, I saw a spectator I knew from home. I asked if he knew what happened and he told me someone got killed on the bike. I instantaneously welled up and cried for a few minutes. As I continued, I made a vow to learn as much as I could about this person I never met.

I posted in the Ironman Boulder Facebook group if anyone knew the person that died. Thankfully, her sister Angela responded. That's when this journey officially started...the day I learned who Michelle Walters was.

I want to share her sister's letter to me with all of you. It tells the story of a young woman that was abandoned at birth, fell into drugs, and was on a steep downward trajectory. One unforeseen event both changed and saved her life giving her a chance for rebirth. The Ironman motto is, "Anything is possible". It's clear that Michelle was applying those words to her Ironman quest and to other parts of her life.

Here's Angela's letter to me from Dec 4, 2016.

"Michelle was adopted as a newborn and never met her birth mom. She was the second oldest of 4 daughters. Mom and dad went through a divorce when Michelle was a teenager. That is when Michelle started getting mixed in with the wrong crowd and getting in trouble.

She did not graduate regular high school, she ended up graduating from alternative high school in 2000. She tried community college but dropped out. That is when she moved to Colorado. Although we tried, we didn't hear from Michelle for a few years. Michelle had fallen to drugs. She stayed on this path for about 10 years.

She finally got clean when she found out she was pregnant with Dorian. She checked herself into a home for women in Boulder to get through the process of getting clean. She vowed to be the best mother for Dorian, and she was. She got clean and never looked back.

Dorian's dad was also an addict and very abusive. Dorian was born on October 31st, 2011. That Thanksgiving when Dorian was less than a month old, Michelle took Dorian and left his dad after he had beat Michelle up in front of the baby. Dorian's dad's parents took Michelle in. They were also a huge help to Michelle getting clean. Sally was a nurse and had helped Michelle realize she wanted to be a nurse. She had applied to nursing school in Colorado, but the wait lists were at least 3 years long.

This is when Michelle made the decision to move back to Nebraska (home) and attend nursing school there. She and Dorian moved to Nebraska in 2014. She lived in low income housing and went to school fulltime. She and Dorian didn't have much, but she would do anything to give Dorian a good future.

Michelle was a great runner in high school and ran cross country. At Christmas in 2014, I asked her to run the Lincoln half marathon with me. She had just recently began running again, as had I. She wanted to do it with me, and even told one of my sisters how excited and she saw this as a chance for us to reconnect. She loved it. At the end she told me she was going to do a full! Running was her new healthy addiction. She became so healthy, she was eating great and doing amazing workouts. In April 2016, she did her first triathlon. In May 2016 she did her first full marathon. In June 2016, she did a 12 hour trail race and completed 51 miles. She won several of the races she competed in, but you would never know because she never bragged about it. I didn't even know she did half the events that she did, she didn't like to talk about herself. She was accepted into nursing school and was supposed to start August 2016. She wanted to do Ironman before nursing school because she knew she wouldn't have time to be a mom, nursing student, and train for Ironman. Michelle didn't talk about her past, but to me it is a big part of who she is and the strong woman she had become.

After her death the custody of Dorian was a mess. She had sent one of my sisters a letter a few years ago saying that she wanted Dorian to go to her if anything ever happened. She didn't have a will and the letter is all we had. Dorian's dad still has parental rights, and in Nebraska the custody of the child automatically goes to the other parent if rights haven't been revoked no matter the situation (his dad is still an active addict). After 2 months of uncertainty and court hearings, Dorian finally got to go to his new "home". My sister, Carolyn, lives in Wyoming and was awarded permanent guardianship of Dorian. Michelle didn't have any money to leave behind, life insurance, or any college funds started for Dorian."

I've since spoken with Carolyn and she is a single mother of 3 including Dorian. She's a teacher and takes summers to spend as much time with the kids as possible. She grieves for her sister and fought hard for Dorian and took him in as part of her family knowing the financial implications. She told me, "I'd do it again any day for him".

Carolyn is on an extremely tight budget. With an extra mouth to feed, the family is making tough decisions. Swim lessons, T-Ball, soccer, gymnastics, and family vacations will most likely be sacrificed.

I know my fellow triathletes and those I know away from the sport see this as unacceptable. Carolyn, Dorian, and her other children deserve better.